Bible Strands
Joshua 12:2
Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. He ruled from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along the middle of the valley, up to the Jabbok River (the border of the Ammonites), that is, half of Gilead,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator catalogs the eastern kings defeated by Israel, situating their former domains geographically from the Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon. This inventory follows the military account of Israel’s conquest beyond the Jordan.
The words — סִיחוֹן (si.chOn) identifies the Amorite ruler, and מֹשֵׁ֡ל (mo.Shel) describes his governing authority over the territory. These terms anchor the passage in a specific historical and political reality.
The thread — Numbers 21:23 and Deuteronomy 2:24 document Israel’s military conflict with this same king, while Genesis 32:22 notes the Jabbok River, which Joshua 12:2 marks as the northern border of his kingdom.
Why it lands — It demands recognition of Israel’s territorial inheritance as a direct result of military conquest, mapping the exact boundaries of the defeated Amorite kingdom. The text requires the reader to account for the precise geography of the land taken.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is upon the bank of the river Arnon, and from the middle of the river, and from half Gilead, even unto the river Jabbok, which is the border of the children of Ammon;
Cross-references
- Genesis 32:22 During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
- Numbers 21:23 But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. Instead, he gathered his whole army and went out to confront Israel in the wilderness. When he came to Jahaz, he fought against Israel.
- Deuteronomy 2:24 “Arise, set out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have delivered into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle.
- Deuteronomy 3:6 We devoted them to destruction, as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city.
- Judges 11:13 The king of the Ammonites answered Jephthah’s messengers, “When Israel came up out of Egypt, they seized my land, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and all the way to the Jordan. Now, therefore, restore it peaceably.”
- Judges 11:22 seizing all the land from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.
- Nehemiah 9:22 You gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner of the land. So they took the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and of Og king of Bashan.
- Psalms 135:11 Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kings of Canaan.
- Psalms 136:19 Sihon king of the Amorites His loving devotion endures forever.